betajames

(various deadlines; check schedule)

• Option #1: Develop an undergraduate writing course syllabus, including rationale.
  The syllabus should be at least 10 pages. 
  Some of you may have current/past syllabi that you are using. It is not acceptable to submit this as your work for the semester. First, if you work from syllabi given to you, then you want to practice developing your own course. Second, having a range of pedagogical options will benefit you in adjusting to different contexts for teaching.
  Course parameters: First-Year Composition, Tuesday/Thursday for 75-minute classes, 16-week semester in which week 9 is Spring Break and week 16 is exams
  The syllabus should explain what you (and the students) will be doing each day of the semester. For each day, provide a short description and rationale of the day's work.
  Make sure to explain when things are due.
  Make sure it is clear what students will be doing during class, such as lectures, discussions, activities, workshops, or presentations.
  List important materials (assignment sheets, quizzes, various media). You do not have to develop materials for each day (though you could amend and include your facilitation); provide a brief overview of what these materials are and what they entail.
  The rationale should be at least 1000 words and cite appropriate scholarly sources that go beyond assigned course readings. In essence, make an argument about how your approach to teaching this material is pedagogically sound.
  Explain the context of the course. Explain the goals for the course. Assigned readings and writings are the backbone of the course; place them at the center of your discussion. Highlight activities and other work that students will do to support the course goals. Pay close attention to those practices that get repeated and/or are a cornerstone of your pedagogy.
  Support your argument about the pedagogical soundness of your curriculum. With this document, your essential argument is that an instructor using this pedagogy will be able to achieve certain outcomes. Use your syllabus as evidence to support that argument. 
  In deciding what should be explained in the daily rationale in the syllabus and in the overall rationale, focus on limited and repeated practices. If occurring just once, include the practice in the daily rationale. If repeated multiple times and/or functions as a cornerstone of the semester pedagogy, articulate this in the overall rationale.

In both the syllabus and its accompanying rationale, I will be looking for evidence of the following:

1. a sense of audience. Will any composition instructor be able to understand this syllabus based on what's provided? Will an administrator understand this syllabus?
2. a syllabus grounded in composition and rhetorical theory
3. a logical progression of activities and assignments that build upon each other
4. an understanding of the students the syllabus was designed for
5. a clear sense of what you and the students will be doing on a daily basis
6. activities and assignments that are executable and correspond with course goals
7. a teacherly persona
8. appropriate use of conventions, i.e., readable formt and correct MLA or APA citations (if applicable)

• Option #2

The editorial staff of College Composition and Communication (CCC) invites submission of research and scholarship in composition studies that supports college teachers in reflecting on and improving their practices in teaching writing. The field of composition studies draws on research and theories from a broad range of humanistic disciplines— English studies, linguistics, literacy studies, rhetoric, cultural studies, gay studies, gender studies, critical theory, education, technology studies, race studies, communication, philosophy of language, anthropology, sociology, and others—and within composition studies, a number of subfields have also developed, such as technical communication, computers and composition, writing across the curriculum, research practices, history of composition, assessment, and writing center work.

Articles for CCC may come out of the discussions within and among any of these fields, as long as the argument presented is clearly relevant to the work of college writing teachers and responsive to recent scholarship in composition studies. The usefulness of articles to writing teachers should be apparent in the discussion, but articles need not contain explicit sections detailing applications to teaching practices.

In writing for CCC, you should consider a diverse readership for your article, a readership that includes at least all teachers of college-level writing at diverse institutions and literacy centers, and may include administrators, undergraduate and graduate students, legislators, corporate employers, parents, and alumni. To address such an audience, you need not avoid difficult theories or complex discussions of research and issues or detailed discussions of pedagogy; rather you should consider the interests and perspectives of the variety of readers who are affected by your theories, pedagogies, and policies.

Genre, Format, Length, Documentation. You are encouraged to submit articles in whatever genre and format best fits your purposes, and to use alternate genres and formats if they best express your meanings; similarly, the use of endnotes and subheadings should align with your purposes and meanings. Most articles in CCC run between 4,000 and 7,000 words (or approximately 16–28 double-spaced pages), though articles may be shorter or longer in line with your purposes. All articles should be documented according to the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (2nd ed.). NCTE's Guidelines for Gender-Fair Use of Language can be found here: http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/genderfairuseoflang.